Tamron Adaptall SP 70-210mm f/3.5

I bought this lens to get more light with a tele and it's only 1/2 stop slower than the expensive and heavy 2.8-brothers. Because I'm using more than only 1 camera-system I like the adaptall-system very much: Just buy another adaptor and you can use the lens on the other system. Very good build quality and it's got a "perfect hood": When zooming in the lens element will go back and the hood will be fine with every focal length. Very good macro capabilities. O.K. : It's not as good as the expensive 2.8-brothers and not as good as a 2.8/200 prime. But you get what you pay for : It's much better than many/most 3.5-4.5/ or 4-5.6/70-210 zoom lenses. And it's a great portrait lens too: Not too sharp/contrasty wide open. But it's getting very sharp when stopped down. If you want to do manaul focus portrait work this lens is very good! If you want to take indoor sports shots this lens is good as well (because of artificial light the contrast will be high enough). If you want the best sharpness available then this is not the right thing (but you wouldn't expect that at this price - eh?)

Build quality Perfect-hood Macro abilities Overall qualitiy

a bit less contrast at full aperture - you have to stop down (1 stop is enough) to get better quality.

Tokina 2.8/80-200 Sigma 3.5-4.5/70-210 Tokina 4/80-200 Tamron 4-5.6/70-210 Tokina 4-5.6/70-210 Pentax 4.5/80-200 Pentax 2.8/200

Very good

i have three lenses in this category, you may say i am greedy. i bought this one because i found i didnot like the out of focus look of the tamron 80-200 2.8 well it is softer has similar out of focus areas but has a warmer qualility to the image dream like

weight and one touch zoom great for portraits and street shots of people adds on nice romantic touch and doesnot so all their flaws might keep it for that reason

soft wide open especially at the wide end distracting out of focus (bokeh) not fast enough (2.8) price new (400 us) ouch get it 2nd hand on ebay

tokina 80-200 atx pro 2.8 af (great lens at a bargain price) tamron 80-200mm 2.8 ld sp ( got it for nothing, and nothing i mean nothing comes close to it in this range even primes for sharpness

This review refers to the *original* SP 70-210 Macro (1:2). Visually, at a glance, it has little in common with the current model. It has separate focus and zoom rings, and an adaptall-2 mount. I bought the lens, new, as the main accessory for my new Canon AE-1 in 1979 and I still have them both. I guess that says something. At the same time I bought the 2X SP teleconverter that Tamron produced specially for this lens, making it a 140-420mm with 1:1 macro and (in theory) better performance than a zoom lens with a general purpose teleconverter.

I have always liked the results. Somehow romantic quality, yet no obvious softness. No separate "macro" mode -- just focus in as close as you want up to 700mm and still have full zoom functions. f32 (or f64 with 2X TCV) allows decent depth of field even in close-ups. Heavy and smooth controls. Solid chunk of glass and metal.

Adaptall-2 needed replacing once (15 years ago). Add the 2X and focus in close and you have one longgggg camera. Rubber grip on focus ring became unglued (loose) -- had to cut the ring to re-glue, and it eventually fell off and was lost. Solid chunk of glass and metal. On the Canon AE1 it is a little heavier than I would idealy want, but I see the latest model top line zooms are hefty too. I wouldn''t call it the sharpest lens ever made, judging by eye. Yet at the same time it never seemed lacking in detail. Maybe this is not a bad thing after all? Teleconverter does lower contrast.

None.